Song of Silence
by PW 1
Summary: The day before Kikyo and Inuyasha's demise... (Note: Not a songfic)


Title - Song of Silence

Rating - Pg-13

Pairings - n/a

Author - Pixie Wings 

- DISCLAIMER -

Inuyasha is the creation and property of Rumiko Takahashi. Inuyasha is also the property of Sunrise, Viz, and any other company that bought the rights to the series. I make no financial profit from this story and claim no rights to any characters within that are from the series, Inuyasha. 

- NOTE -

-Any word* , look at the end of the document for a note on the subject.

-The characters are more than likely not out of character despite what you may believe. Not every moment before their demise was shown to us in the manga or in the show.

-Kikyo and Inuyasha drama and discussion going on, a warning for all those who despise the character of Kikyo so much that they wouldn't want to read something like this. 

-Some warnings may be added if I choose to add to the story.

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She sat there in the middle of 'their' clearing. Her raven black hair - normally gathered into a neat bundle at the nape of her neck - was currently billowing freely in the wind. With her eyes closed she, for once, looked to be at peace. The clearing was the picture of serenity and the only sounds a person, or yokai for that matter, could hear was the lively chirping of the tiny sparrows that hopped to and fro in the grass, and the gentle rustling of the leaves in the trees above.

Inuyasha watched from his perch in a tree; he didn't want to disrupt the peace that was so rarely given to the young Miko sitting a short distance away. Of course he was never one for patience, so after a few minutes of staring stupidly, he had prepared to leap to the side of the young woman. He halted his movements when a soft humming reached his ears - humming that was coming from the woman that his attention was centered. 

His ears perked up, more so than before, and listened intently on Kikyo's song. It sounded somewhat sad and from what he could tell, it must have been some sort of folk song that was common to humans. The inu-hanyo sat on his tree branch in continued silence - still half ready to spring to the ground - concentrating harder on the melancholy humming drifting upwards.

By the time the gentle song grew silent, Inuyasha was reminiscing upon certain lullabies. His mother had sometimes sung those strange lullabies to him as a child, especially when he was feeling bad. Before Inuyasha could berate himself for being weak and thinking of his mother, Kikyo's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Inuyasha, please come down and sit with me. Allow me to share this beautiful day with you."

He stiffened instantly. She knew he was there, she also knew that he had heard her humming her song. He sighed softly, slightly agitated at having been discovered eavesdropping. He sprang down to Kikyo's side nearly soundlessly and landing within a foot from the Miko. He then noisily flopped down so that he was lying on his side, head closest to the young woman. 

Kikyo turned her melancholy brown eyes towards him and smiled a rare soft-but-sad smile. She observed him a bit until she realized he had begun to fidget under her scrutiny. She cast her eyes skywards and then back down to her companion, "Do you know of the song I was humming just a moment ago?" Her voice soft and small asked of him.

He raised one eyebrow and began plucking at the grass beneath his clawed hands. "How would _I_ know? I haven't exactly had much time to just sit around and listen to stupid human songs. I'm usually busy taking care of myself and keeping myself from getting killed by other yokai. They sure as hell won't let me be so I can listen to some stupid human ditties!" He scowled thinking of the various yokai he ran from or killed over the years. Kikyo turned her eyes downward, "I know..." she sighed. "The song I was humming is called the Song of Passing*". 

Both of Inuyasha's eyebrows lifted in surprise as he sat up. "The Song of Passing? I thought it was just some stupid old folk song!" He matched her intense stare for a total of four seconds before he averted his eyes back to the grass underneath his fingers.

Kikyo hesitated a moment, then, as if finding her voice she whispered, "I thought of all possible songs in this land, you would have at least known the Song of Passing. I'm sure you've caused a few humans to recite it..." Inuyasha snapped his head up and glared hard at the Miko. "I only kill when it's necessary! It's not like I want..."

"Inuyasha!" The young woman interrupted, " That's enough, I know you would never kill another unless you must. You still are half-human anyway, and I'm sorry that I insinuated otherwise." She turned her gaze away from the hanyo and into the lively forests across from her. 

The inu-hanyo sighed, regretful that he snapped at her. "So, why of all songs to hum, would you choose that one on such a nice day as this?" Her sad smile returned at that comment, it turned her lips upward but her eyes revealed no signs of acknowledging the smile. "I suppose the fact that I thought you knew it wouldn't suffice would it?"

"Kikyo, what's bothering you?"

Her false smile left her face, while the look of grievance touched her features. "I feel our days together are numbered Inuyasha. They'll soon end, I can feel it in the air - I don't want them to end though!" Kikyo's hand reached out and grabbed his hand, cradling it to her chest. "I wish to be with you, always with you Inuyasha." 

The hanyo's facial features showed his surprise, then his worry at the Miko's last words. "Kikyo, I'd give everything just to be by your side always, and you know that I would die before I let you go!"

Upon finishing his statement Inuyasha felt a drop of water fall upon the hand Kikyo was cradling. For the first time in a long time, the Miko had shed a tear. "That's what I fear most, you will die and leave me here all alone to live on without you!"

The emotional outburst caught the hanyo by surprise. It was a rare day when Kikyo smiled; much less hum, but he had never witnessed such emotions from the Miko beside him. "Ki... Kikyo..." He gave up with words and just pulled her into a tight embrace. He allowed Kikyo to dry her tears on his shoulder. When he sensed and smelt that she had no more tears to give, he stroked her hair once and pulled her face away from his shoulder, and pulled her face to his. 

"Kikyo, you get feelings about things with you're Miko powers*, but something tells me you've had more than feelings about this. You know what's going to happen to us. Tell me what's going to happen and I'll do everything in my power to stop it!"

She shook her head almost violently, "No Inuyasha! You can't stop it! It's meant to happen, and no one can stop it!" Her hands grabbed wildly for her hair, and once she gathered a good portion of it, yanked it back forcefully out of the wind. She then pulled red twine from a pocket in her robes, wrapped it around her bunched hair, and ending it in a bow.

Inuyasha watched the Miko, believing for a few moments his only living connection to the human world had gone insane. He was preparing to grab her hands and force her to stop this erratic behavior when her desperate voice put an end to his plans. "You know ..." Her voice was unstable and low, "humans believe that a red string* of fate ties two souls together..." She fell silent for a while. One hand traveled over the red string in her hair, tracing the sloppy bow that she had hastily tied. She swallowed and pulled her hair back before she continued, "I know you like my hair Inuyasha." The mentioned half-yokai's cheeks flared up at the comment. "So I give it to you before our tie is severed."

Inuyasha watched in horror as Kikyo pulled a knife out of her sleeve and brought it up to her ebony strands. "Kikyo, no!" He lunged forward and caught the knife in the palm of his hand before it had a chance to lacerate a single strand of her hair. Unfortunately in order to save the Miko's hair from its owner's (or former owner, seeing as how she just gave it to Inuyasha) intentions - he sacrificed his blood. On his hand he sported a deep gash that was spurting blood over the embedded knife.

After confirming that Kikyo remained unharmed, he pulled the knife out of her grip, while still fixed in his injured hand. He examined his wound, then carefully pulled the offending piece of metal out. Kikyo covered her mouth. She had meant to give him her hair, she had never wanted to injure her hanyo. She couldn't stop her hands from trembling, had she spilled anyone else's blood she wouldn't have felt as bad as she did. With guilt, sorrow, and habit guiding her, she pulled out the only spare cloth she had left - her usual white hair tie. She took it - surprising the hanyo - and wrapped it around the afflicted hand several times before tying it off. 

Within a few moments of contact with the wound, it became saturated with blood; turning a deep crimson color. The Miko couldn't tear her eyes away from the red hair tie-turned-bandage, guilt not allowing her to meet Inuyasha's gaze. The hanyo took Kikyo's chin with his uninjured hand and forced her to look him in the eye. "Kikyo, why would you do that? I love your hair on you! I don't want to see you hurt yourself because of me. It hurts to think of another person or creature harming you, but it's agonizing to think of your mutilating any part of yourself over me." His hand released her chin and once again pulled her into a gentle hug.

Kikyo sighed in relief, lightly returning the gentle embrace. "I just... I wanted to give you something of mine before we are separated, I wanted you to remember what we feel for one another. Forever." A moment of silence was shared before Kikyo felt a light pulling on her hair before it fell free. "Who say's we'll be separated?" Inuyasha's gruff voice broke the silence in half. "Tell me... was I hanyo still in you're ... premonition?" She nodded, and watched as he slipped the red string around her neck. "Then we will have to go through with you're plan sooner." He stared intently at the top of her head.

A look of shock passed across her features momentarily. Her eyes widened a fraction of an inch, and her mouth dropped open; silent. "You... a human. Now?"

"Tomorrow... there's still a few thing's I would like to do as a hanyo", He closed his eyes to hide the regret and disappointment he felt at making such a decision. Kikyo gave him an appreciative smile. "Tomorrow at noon we will start our new life!"

"Yes, ...our new life, and then nothing can separate us." He opened his golden eyes and stared at the thin red thread dangling from the Miko's neck, and then to his 'red' bandage. 

"Look, your red ties of fate", He pulled gently at the thread at her neck and lifted his quickly healing hand. She looked to what he was indicating, as if noticing them for the first time. "Yes... but they're separated." The melancholy look returned to her eyes. Inuyasha lifted an eyebrow, "does that have any meaning, what you said?"

She blinked a few times before looking away, "No... no Inuyasha... no meaning. I must go back to the village. They are probably looking for me right now, and you need to get back to do what you need to do before tomorrow." He nodded slowly before stepping away and scanning the area slowly. He had a funny feeling a few minutes ago, as if there was someone else watching. When he sensed nothing he returned his full attention to Kikyo. 

"Tomorrow then... at noon."

She nodded her confirmation. "I'll bring the Shikon to you."

"Kikyo", he grabbed her shoulder lightly, "are you sure you're alright?" She smiled once more, "of course... we will be together, what could go wrong?" 

He nodded and took his hand off her shoulder to run it across her cheek, before turning and springing off into the forest. 

Kikyo sighed mournfully, fingering and retracing the red thread over and over again. "No, nothing wrong. Our fates have always been separated. Our ties proved that... I have my fate and you have you're own. There is no tie to bind us." She bent down to pluck the blood stained knife from the grass. "I fear I have led you to our demise."

Her vision held those separate ties, she just couldn't understand what they indicated. They were a warning or even a sign that they were on the way to their passing. She sheathed the blade and walked silently back to the village. She silently cursed herself for being so foolish as to believe that she could change her fate. She knew full well no one could alter their course, and yet she tried. That was the event that led to their demise. 

She reached up once more to the red string and fisted it. Hatred seethed its way into her blood, a hatred for herself. 

A pair of cruel red eye's watched the Miko disappear before menacing laugher caused any remaining wildlife to flee from the hidden danger. 

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perhaps tbc? Kagome's turn? You readers decide. 

My first IY fic, hey, my first published fic in three years! I am so proud of me. ^_~ I hoped you enjoyed it. I should hope you readers have figured out that this fic has taken place before Kikyo's and Inuyasha's death. The day before to be exact. 

I'm sure someone out there wrote something like this before. I would think a fic that occurred 'the day before their demise' is pretty cliche by now. If not then all the more yay's for me. right? ^_^

As a last note, I couldn't think of any title to give to this piece, so I gave it the lame name of 'Song of Silence'. If anyone could think of a more suiting name, please share! Thanks!

~PPW~

footnotes:

* Song of Passing - I'm not sure if they have such a song in the Japanese culture. It was made up in this story to lead to other conversation and to obtain a foreboding feeling.

* Miko Powers - We don't know all of her hidden powers, however I'm sure premonitions aren't one of them. For the sake of this story, though, I'll give it to her.

*Red String of Fate - I read in multiple places a while back, that the Japanese believe that a red string of fate binds two souls together. I don't know if this is truthful, but it is useful. ^_^


End file.
